Table of Contents
Hollenbeck Bike Lanes
Make biking on Hollenbeck safe for children
1. Sign the Petition
2. Email BPAC by Oct 14
Email Sunnyvale's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC) about why you want buffered bike lanes on Hollenbeck. BPAC will be voting on this issue at their meeting on Oct 16, 2025. Their vote will inform the Council decision, which is happening later this fall, so it is very important to let BPAC know your views.
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Email by Tuesday, Oct 14, 2025.
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Bcc: info@sunnyvalesafestreets.org (so we can keep track)
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Subject: Choose buffered bike lanes (Alternative 1) on Hollenbeck
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See talking points below
3. Speak at the BPAC meeting on Oct 16
When: Thursday, Oct 16, 2025, 6:30-8:30 PM
Where: Sunnyvale City Hall and by Zoom
Attend the BPAC meeting and speak during public comment. Each person who speaks up strengthens our message. Speaking in-person is best, but speaking over Zoom is valuable too. You will have 3 minutes to speak. This agenda item is estimated to end around 8:30 pm, but could be later.
Talking Points
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Introduce yourself: State your name and where you live. If you live close to Hollenbeck, say so.
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Say, "I support Alternative 1, which is buffered bike lanes and the removal of parking."
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Provide your personal experience on Hollenbeck. How do you use Hollenbeck? Why do you want safe bike lanes on Hollenbeck? Would you bike more often if it felt safe? Do you want safe bike lanes for your children? Have you been in a bike-car crash or witnessed one?
Optionally speak on any of the following points:
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Important: Reject Alternative 2 because it is dangerous. The lack of buffers and the narrow bike lanes increase collisions between cars and people on bikes. Opening doors of parked cars will cause collisions with cyclists, which is known to kill cyclists and caused them severe injuries. Parked cars also block visibility of all road users. Alternative 2 falls far short of safety guidelines issued by Caltrans and NACTO.
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Hollenbeck is an essential north-south corridor. It connects to 8 schools, 3 parks, 4 churches, City Hall, the library, and shops. Children should be able to bike to these destinations safely.
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Buffers separating bike lanes from cars are essential for safety. They provide a margin for human error for both drivers and cyclists. This buffer is especially important for children and the elderly.
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Removal of street parking is essential for safety. It makes space for buffers to be installed. It also improves visibility for all road users because there would be no parked cars to block the line of sight. Pedestrians would be able to cross the street more safely.
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There are no safe alternate routes for bicyclists. Mary Ave has had 25 reported bike-car crashes in the last 10 years. Sunnyvale-Saratoga Rd, which has unbuffered bike lanes but much higher car speeds and car volume than Mary, has had 23 reported bike-car crashes in the last 10 years. Choosing Alternative 1 on Hollenbeck will create a safe, stress-free north-south corridor for bicyclists.
EXISTING CONDITIONS
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Hollenbeck Ave has no bike lanes. Yet, it is a critical north-south corridor serving many destinations.
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Cyclists have to share the road with cars regularly speeding at 40 mph.
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Cyclists are forced to swerve around parked cars into car traffic.
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Cars build up behind cyclists in the vehicle lane and illegally swerve into oncoming traffic to pass cyclists.
THE SOLUTION
The City's proposed Alternative 1 will:
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Install buffered bike lanes, consistent with Caltrans guidance.
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Remove on-street parking.
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Improve safety at intersections.
These improvements will:
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Greatly improve safety for cyclists, especially children and new riders.
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Dedicate lanes just to cars so they won't be stuck behind cyclists or need to veer into oncoming traffic to pass cyclists.
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Create unobstructed views for all road users.
Alternative 1 buffered bike lanes are safe.
BENEFITS
BicyclE
Safety
Alternative 1 will enable children and adults to safely bike to the many destinations served by Hollenbeck.
CAR
Safety
With dedicated car lanes, drivers won't need to veer into oncoming traffic to get around cyclists.
Critical Link iN Bike Network
The proposed bike lanes are a critical north-south link in Sunnyvale's bicycle network, connecting to schools, parks, library, and many other destinations.
Sustain future population
As the population grows, residents will have a safe, efficient, clean, and sustainable alternative to driving.
IMPROVE INTERSECTIONS
The project will improve safety at key intersections, benefiting all road users.
FAQ
DOES ANYBODY BIKE ON HOLLENBECK?
Yes, over 100 people already bike on Hollenbeck daily, despite having no bike lanes and having to share the road with cars. School children already bike on Hollenbeck to get to these schools: Cumberland Elementary, Sunnyvale Middle, Cupertino Middle, Homestead High, and Challenger. The photos below show children biking on Hollenbeck on a typical school day. If so many people are willing to bike on Hollenbeck today, imagine how many more would bike if Hollenbeck were made safe.
CAN PEOPLE BIKE ON OTHER ROUTES INSTEAD?
In general, no. There are 2 parallel routes to Hollenbeck: Mary Ave and Sunnyvale-Saratoga Rd. These routes are infeasible and/or unacceptable for 3 reasons:
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Destinations on Hollenbeck can be reached only by traveling on Hollenbeck.
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Each parallel route lengthens the travel distance by 1 mile. That's equivalent to asking cars to go 3 miles out of the way. This is unacceptable for most people.
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Sunnyvale-Saratoga is a high-speed arterial that is dangerous and unpleasant to bike on. Cars speed at 50 mph on this 6-lane road. In the last 10 years, Sunnyvale-Saratoga was the site of 23 collisions involving cyclists.
Currently, over 100 people bike on Hollenbeck daily, even though it's unsafe. Instead of needlessly directing people to take alternate routes, which are themselves unsafe, we should make Hollenbeck safe to bike on.
* Collisions are bike-car collisions, some severe, collected over the last 10 years by SWITRS. Number of cyclists is daily count reported by Staff. There are almost 2x the number of collisions on Hollenbeck as on Mary when normalized by bike volume.
WHERE WILL RESIDENTS PARK?
The majority of Hollenbeck residents do not use or need street parking. On a typical night, only 11% of street parking is occupied, representing 39 cars. Hollenbeck houses have at least 4 parking spaces and on average 5 parking spaces on their property. Many have more. 75% of houses have at least 1 unoccupied driveway space. Many of the 39 cars can be parked on the driveway. For the small minority of residents who need additional parking, side streets are available within a short walk away.
Replacing street parking with bike lanes has been done before on other Sunnyvale residential streets. Sunnyvale Avenue, Maude Avenue, and Homestead Road are three notable examples. After conversion, these roads became safe for cyclists, and residents were able to resolve their parking needs.
* Street parking data collected by the City. Off-street parking data collected by Sunnyvale Safe Streets.
WHERE WILL DELIVERY VANS, VISITORS, AND CONTRACTORS PARK?
Delivery vans will continue to make deliveries like they normally do by briefly pausing on the street. Visitors, contractors, and the handicapped can park on the driveway and, if needed, residents can move their car to a side street to make room. For large construction projects, contractors can apply for a city permit to termporarily use street space.
WHAT ABOUT ALTERNATIVE 2?
Alternative 2 is dangerous. This alternative features unbuffered bike lanes on both sides of the street and a parking lane on one side of the street. Alternative 2 has some major flaws that make it unsafe for biking. Consider these safety problems of Alternative 2:
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The largest safety problem is "dooring". Without a buffer, cyclists ride in the door zone, exposing themselves to an opened door crashing into them. Being doored can cause severe injury and even death. Without a door zone buffer, Alt 2 doesn't meet Caltrans Complete Streets Guidance, which specifies 2'-4' door zone buffers. Dooring is responsible for 20% of all cyclist-related crashes.
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There's no buffer separating the bike lane from the car lane, causing cyclists to travel dangerously close to moving cars. The lack of a buffer also makes future vertical barriers impossible. Caltrans Complete Streets Guildance says a buffer is recommended for streets > 25 mph.
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The bike lane clear pavement is reduced to 3' in some segments, which is too narrow for safety and doesn't meet the the Caltrans Complete Streets Guidance of 5'-7'.
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The parking lane zigzags 11 times from one side of the street to the other. At parking zone transitions, drivers tend to park beyond the parking zone and in the bike lane, causing cyclists to dangerously swerve into traffic to avoid parked cars.
In summary, Alternative 1's buffered bike lanes are far safer than Alternative 2's narrow, unbuffered, door zone bike lanes.
WHAT ABOUT ALTERNATIVE 3?
Alternative 3 is the most dangerous of all. This alternative is the "do nothing" option, which features parking lanes on both sides and no bike lanes. Cyclists are forced to share the travel lane with cars when passing parked cars. Alternative 3 goes against Caltrans Guidance, which specifies that shared lanes be used only on roads that do not surpass 20 mph or 2500 cars/day (Hollenbeck is neither).
WHERE WILL I PUT MY GARBAGE BINS FOR PICKUP?
Garbage bins can be placed in the buffer, between the bike lane and the car lane. In the buffer, garbage bins do not block bike or car travel. On Sunnyvale Avenue where buffered bike lanes were implemented in 2023, residents place their garbage bins in the buffer.
WILL EMERGENCY VEHICLES BE ABLE TO GET THROUGH?
Yes, emergency vehicles will be able to get through. Alternative 1 will actually improve emergency response times by ensuring that a parked car will never be in the way of a car that needs to pull over to let an emergency vehicle pass. In contrast, parked cars in the current condition hamper the passage of emergency vehicles.
WILL ALTERNATIVE 1 CAUSE MORE TRAFFIC CONGESTION?
No, Alternative 1 will not cause more traffic congestion. On the contrary, Alternative 1 is expected to reduce traffic congestion. Here are the top 3 reasons why:
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Alternative 1 does not change the number of car lanes, so Hollenbeck's car capacity remains unchanged.
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Currently, car traffic slows to the speed of a bicycle whenever a cyclist is forced into the travel lane by a parked car. With Alternative 1, drivers are separated from cyclists so cars do not bunch up behind cyclists.
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With safe bike lanes, more people will choose to bike instead of drive on Hollenbeck, thus reducing car congestion. Children will be able to bike to school instead of their parents driving them to school.
WILL ALTERNATIVE 1 CAUSE DRIVERS TO SPEED?
No, Alternative 1 will not cause drivers to speed. The current car lane width is effectively 20' when there's no parked car, which is most of the time, and 12' otherwise. Alternative 1 reduces the car lane width to 11'. Narrowing car lanes has the known effect of reducing car speeds. [Ref: NACTO Design Guide: Lane Width]. Future vertical barriers, if installed in the buffer, will also have the effect of reducing car speeds.
The scope of the current study is limited to adding bike lanes on Hollenbeck. It is not meant to address car speed and volume. Instead, the City's Traffic Calming Program is available for these concerns. A separate study would have to be initiated for traffic calming.
DO CITY POLICIES SUPPORT BIKE LANES?
Yes, city policies unequivocally prioritize bike lanes over street parking. The City's Land Use and Transportation Element of the General Plan says:
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Prioritize safe bike lanes over street parking (LT-3.8, LT-3.9, LT-3.10).
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Promote transportation modes in this priority: pedestrians, non-automotive (bicycles, ...), mass transit, delivery vehicles, single-occupant automobiles (LT-3.6)
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Prioritize subsidies to and support for bicycling (LT-3.15).
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Eliminate subsidies to car parking and driving (LT-3.13).
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Support alternatives to the single-occupant automobile such as walking and bicycling (LT-3.1).
WILL BIKE LANES DECREASE MY HOME VALUE?
No, bike lanes will not decrease home value, according to many studies done across multiple US cities. On the contrary, national organizations like National Association of Realtors and Urban Land Institute report that high quality bike lanes help to increase property values. Bike lanes serve as a serious selling point. CEOs for Cities pegs the property value increase due to bike lanes at $34K.
In contrast, the presence or absence of street parking does not clearly affect home prices one way or the other, according to urban studies research done at Portland State University.